Europe

The decision of Sweden’s government to impose identity controls at the
Öresund Bridge linking the country with Denmark - featured in the famous
television drama - underlines the crisis of the European Union. The
increased antagonism between the two Nordic neighbours that this
represents is a drama in itself and a stark indication of how the
barriers are literally going up between different EU states.

Sweden’s biggest daily paper, the Social Democratic ‘Aftonbladet’,
commented in December that “the refugee crisis has revealed the abysmal
contradictions" within the EU and concluded: "Never has Europe been so
threatened".

The new Swedish laws on refugees are meant to stop as many as possible
from entering the country. At Copenhagen’s Kastrup station, on the route
to Malmö in Sweden, 150 guards from the company Securitas, are checking
and photographing the ID cards of every individual. Those without ID are
blocked from entering Sweden. Last year, four out of five refugees
entering Sweden lacked passports or identity cards. Of 25,000 children
from Afghanistan, only 18 had ID. Sweden is presently pushing for a deal
with the Afghan government for refugees to be sent back.

For decades, the bridge has had one of the most open border crossings in
the world. 15,000 people travel every day between their homes in
Copenhagen and their work in Malmö or vice versa. With the new ID
checks, their journey time can become up to an hour longer.

For a long time, per population, Sweden was receiving the highest number
of refugees in Europe, while Denmark was implementing some of the most
restrictive regulations. Now their roles have reversed! The right-wing
Danish government is accusing the Swedish Social Democratic-Green
government of abolishing the right to asylum. At the same time, the
Danish government has also immediately implemented similar controls at
its border with Germany.

Both countries are using the language of a state of emergency to defend
their decisions; they refer to “state security” and “law and order” as
reasons for the drastic measures. The Swedish government even considered
an emergency closing of the bridge for a period.

In Sweden, the new rules were prepared by a propaganda campaign from
politicians, starting with the racist Sweden Democrats, followed by the
Conservatives and Social Democrats. They used the phrase “Sweden is
close to system collapse” without giving any details: what system and
where? The workers and volunteers involved in receiving and caring for
refugees, though under great pressure, did not make any such comments.

At the same time, banks and companies are reporting record profits and
even the state finances have improved a lot, according to the
government. However, no measures are being taken to increase the
building of the necessary homes, allocate the necessary resources to
schools, health care etc. Instead, the government is threatening more
cuts and agreements with the traditional right-wing parties.

The crisis of the European Union

The refugee crisis has developed into the most urgent crisis of the
European Union. Summit after summit has ended in sharp clashes or in
agreements that are never implemented.

The EU “must stem the flow of migrants or risk the same fate as the
Roman Empire!". This dire warning of the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark
Rutte, sums up the attitude of some leading politicians. On 1 January,
the Dutch government took over the EU’s rotating presidency.

One million refugees coming into Europe has broken down the cohesion
between the rulers of this “great and democratic union", with its 508
million inhabitants. The Schengen agreement, which came into force 20
years ago to achieve a Europe without borders, has been undermined.
Schengen is “one the pillars of the construction of Europe", said
European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker in late November,
adding that "a single currency does not exist if Schengen fails."

Two or three months before, the EU leaders and politicians around Europe
protested when Hungary built barbed wire fences on the border with
Serbia, which is also the EU’s external border. Hungary also built a
similar wall against an EU country - Croatia. Since then, country after
country has followed suit and tried to close their borders.

Germany will stop and examine all vehicles coming from Austria, one of
the least guarded borders until this summer. Austria is in turn
reinforcing the border to Slovenia. Macedonia, which is not in the EU,
has erected a wall against Greece and so on. In debates, the CSU in
Bavaria has threatened to close its the state’s borders with other
countries.

The latest restrictions at the Öresund bridge, with the immediate
additional measures of the Danish government, mean that the Swedish
Government’s assertion, not so long ago, that worse rules for refugees
would force the rest of the EU to receive more refugees, comes back to
shame them. Now Norway is also taking pride in having “one of the
toughest positions on immigrants in Europe”.

The EU’s attempt to take special measures to redistribute 160,000 of the
refugees who arrived in Europe via Greece and Italy has ended in a total
fiasco, with, until now, only just over a hundred dispersed. The
European Commission has in parallel decided to sue Greece, Croatia and
Italy because these countries have not identified the refugees properly,
such as taking fingerprints within 72 hours. The reason, apart from the
sheer scale of the number of refugees, is that the Dublin Convention
gives countries such as Sweden the right to send refugees back to the
countries that first registered them.

New border police plus Erdogan

The EU Commission wants a new border police force – a Border and Coast
Guard - which will replace the current Frontex. Unlike Frontex, the new
force could be deployed in all Schengen countries, as well as in Norway
(which is not in the EU) and in border countries like Serbia and
Macedonia, to close the borders. The new force is supposed to be allowed
the right to take action without even the different governments being
informed.

At the same time, the EU has courted Turkish President Erdogan, who has
been offered three billion euros to stop refugees from going further
i.e. northwards. The EU has, during talks with Erdogan, deliberately
turned a blind eye to the Turkish government’s escalation of armed
attacks and violence against the Kurds and the left. The only goal has
been to get the two million refugees from the war in Syria staying in
Turkey.

Politically, a number of traditional right-wing parties and even social
democratic parties have moved sharply rightward. What the extreme right
have called for is now discussed by established parties, which also
takes practical steps in this direction. In the French election campaign
the former president Sarkozy copied some of the language of the Front
National leader, Marine Le Pen. In Slovakia, the ruling Social
Democratic Party argues that all Muslims should leave the country.

Poland’s new government is moving in the direction of Orbán’s in
Hungary. In both cases, the courts, administrative authorities and the
media have been purged of critics of the government. Orbán, after
attacks on Jews and Roma, has recently become a mouthpiece for
Islamophobia. If Poland follows in the same direction, it is even more
serious because Poland is the EU’s sixth largest country, both in terms
of population and economically. The governments of the Czech Republic
and Slovakia are on the same track. This block can de facto ignore EU
decisions.

EU’s worst year – to be continued

2015 was the worst year of policies carried out by the European Union
for a long time. Its primary role has been in making things easier for
banks and multinationals, coordinating budget cuts, attacks on trade
union rights and, lately, as a driving force for increased military
spending. However, recent difficulties, such as the euro crisis, show
how little the EU acts as a real union. Capitalism’s way of functioning
means that its basis in the nation state, and the tensions this creates,
remain.

At the same time, there are new political movements to the left and
struggles of workers and youth. These are necessary to fight against EU
policies and against the threat of the racist right-wing parties. Last
autumn also showed mass solidarity of workers and ordinary people in
many countries. In Sweden and Denmark, new protests are planned to
demand the right to asylum. The alternative to the EU is not
nationalism, but workers’ unity across borders.